Boundary Extension for Briefly Glimpsed Photographs: Do Common Perceptual Processes Result in Unexpected Memory Distortions?
✍ Scribed by Helene Intraub; Carmela V. Gottesman; Edward V. Willey; Ilan J. Zuk
- Book ID
- 102972055
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1996
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 589 KB
- Volume
- 35
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0749-596X
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Boundary extension'' is a memory illusion in which observers remember seeing more of a scene than was shown. Two experiments tested the possibility that this spatial distortion occurs soon after picture perception. In Experiment 1, undergraduates viewed close-up or wide-angle photographs for 250 ms or 4 s. Recall and recognition tests followed. Brief presentations yielded as much boundary extension as long presentations. In Experiment 2, picture triads were presented at a rate of 333 ms per picture with no interstimulus interval. After 1 s, one picture repeated and remained in view while subjects indicated whether it was the same or showed more or less of the scene. Even when conditions mimicked a series of rapid eye fixations, boundary extension occurred. The presentation of a picture appears to activate a perceptual schema that allows observers to understand it in a larger context and this process distorts memory for its actual boundaries.